Quick Definition
a sister
Strong's Definition
a sister (naturally or ecclesiastically)
Derivation: feminine of G80 (ἀδελφός);
KJV Usage: sister
Thayer's Greek Lexicon
ἀδελφή, (ῆς, ἡ (see ἀδελφός) (from Aeschylus down), sister;
1. a full, own sister (i. e. by birth): Mat_19:29; Luk_10:39; Joh_11:1; Joh_11:3; Joh_11:5; Joh_19:25; Rom_16:15, etc.; respecting the sisters of Christ, mentioned in Mat_13:56; Mar_6:3, see ἀδελφός, 1.
2. one connected by the tie of the Christian religion: 1Co_7:15; 1Co_9:5; Phm_1:2 L T Tr WH; Jas_2:15; with a subjective genitive, a Christian woman especially dear to one, Rom_16:1.
Mounce Concise Greek Dictionary
ἀδελφή adelphē 26x
a sister; near kinswoman, or female relative, a female member of the Christian community sister.
Abbott-Smith Greek Lexicon
ἀδελφή , -ῆς ἡ
( <ἀδελφός ),
[in LXX for H269 ;]
a sister: Mat_19:29 at.; metaph . ( MM , VGT , s.v. ), of a member of the Christian com\-munity Rom_16:1 , 1Co_7:15 , Jas_2:15 , al.
Moulton & Milligan — Vocabulary of the Greek NT
ἀδελφή [page 8]
P Oxy IV. 744 .1 (B.C. 1) ( = Selections, p. 32). Ἱλαρίωνα ( l. -ων ) Ἄλιτι τῆι ἀδελφῆι πλεῖστα χαίρειν , Hilarion to Alis, his sister, heartiest greetings, Alis being doubtless wife as well as sister, by a not uncommon Egyptian practice. It figured in Egyptian religion : cf. P Oxy VI. 886 .7 ff. (iii/A.D.) ἡ Ἶσις ζητοῦσα ἑαυτῆς τὸν ἀδελφὸν κὲ ἄνδρα ῍Ο̣σιρειν . Cf. for this an Egyptian inscr. of the reign of Augustus, Archiv v. p. 164 Ἀ [ρ ]τεμίδωρος Ἀνουβᾶτος καὶ ἡ γυνὴ ἀδελφὴ Ἡρακλία . . . καὶ ὁ υἱὸς Ἑρμανοῦβ (ι )ς , and still more clearly P Tebt II. 320 .5 (A.D. 181) τ̣ῆ̣[ς ] . . . γυναικὸς . . [οὔσης μο ]υ ὁμοπ (ατρίου ) καὶ ὁμ [ομ (ητρίου ) ἀδ ]ελ (φῆς ). But there seem to be places where the word means simply wife : see under ἀδελφός , and cf. P Oxy VII. 1070 (iii/A.D.), where a man addresses his wife as ἀδελφή and speaks of our child and your brother and your father and your mother and all our (relations) clearly she was not sister literally. Dittenberger on OGIS 60 .3 (B.C. 247 21) Βερενίκη , ἡ ἀδελφὴ καὶ γυνὴ αὐτοῦ (Ptolemy Euergetes), shows that ἀδελφή was an honorary title : Berenice was her husband s cousin.
For the later metaphorical use of the word ( 1Co_7:15 , etc.), cf. the Paris magical papyrus l. 1135 ff. χαίρετε οἷς τὸ χαίρειν ἐν εὐλογίᾳ δίδοται ἀδελφοῖς καὶ ἀδελφαῖς ὁσίοις καὶ ὁσίαις .
Liddell-Scott — Intermediate Greek Lexicon
ἀδελφή fem. of ἀδελφός, "a sister", Trag. , etc. "a sister" (as a fellow Christian), NTest.
STEPBible — Tyndale Abridged Greek Lexicon
ἀδελφή, -ῆς, ἡ
(ἀδελφός), [in LXX for אָהוֹת ;]
a sister: Mat.19:29, al.; metaphorically (MM, VGT, see word), of a member of the Christian community: Rom.16:1, 1Co.7:15 Jas.21:15, al.
(AS)